Melanona experiences and awareness and HOPE for those diagnosed with this very deadly cancer of the skin.

Wednesday, June 3, 2015

Stages of Scanxiety

FIRST: for those who are new to the cancer world, what is scanxiety? These are the feelings we get when facing scans, blood tests, and anything else cancer related.

SECOND: These are only my feelings and perhaps they are shared and perhaps they are not....

Alright, let's get into this, shall we?

Scanxiety has a different levels and different duration times for each of us. The first 2 years out of cancer treatment I had scanxiety up to a month before my tests. It was amazing what would remind me of being in treatment. A song.... a smell.... a sound? ( those damn beeping sounds of an IV tower!!!). It could be just about anything to bring a rush of tears to my eyes and bring fear to my heart.

The next thing to flood my mind is how will I tell my family I am sick again. How will I look at them and know we are facing treatment again?? What treatment will I get this time? How will I tell my employer and how the hell will we stay financially afloat because my paycheck is the primary $$ for our family? basically.... WHAT THE HELL AM I GOING TO DO??

Now that I am at 4 years NED, my scanxiety has taken on a new, logical approach... the biggest concern is how to tell my family and how the hell we will make a living and pay for my treatment. My first round of fighting cancer drained all my sick leave and teachers only have a limited amount of time. Once that is gone... we will be unemployed and have NO INSURANCE.

I know , I know , I KNOW BABY!! IT IS RIDICULOUS!!

but this is not a blog about health insurance and the failure of our country to offer fair and decent health care to all its citizens.... that is entirely another topic.

Back to SCANXIETY. We worry about $$, we worry about treatments and can we do it AGAIN,and we worry about telling our families and have imaginary conversations with everyone we know telling them we are sick again.... GEEZ, it all exhausts me.

(CAN YOU tell I am heading in for blood tests and x-rays??)

ONE more thing! After the results come back clear, we wonder if our doctors read the scans correctly? Did they miss something? Am I really dying? It is a roller coaster of emotions and a total MIND F*#K!!!

So, as of now I am NED.... and until I get clear results... I will worry a bit. I will pray for those who are fighting and those who are on hospice care...and try not to let scanxiety get the most of me.

2 comments:

I love your blog! You explain your emotions very well and it is great to know that it is ok to feel this way! I feel that way too! You are a very brave woman and have a beautiful spirit:)). I can really relate about not enjoying life in the sun anymore- being raised in the beach all my life and not being able to go on our boat without feeling guilty is a real drag:((( I am half Italian and not fair skinned- it does not run in my family, and I do not have a lot if moles. The one that got me was was a mole I had over 30 yrs! The worse thing about this experience is the lack of family support:(( I think since I am a quiet person- yet strong- and have never had a major problem in my life( except deaths' ) I feel that no one can handle my fears or wants to listen to me without saying stupid things like I do not look sick. Ugghh , that is so annoying. I never felt sick though- since I did not choose chemo, just surgeries. You went to a very well known onc. at UCLA. I go to USC/Keck at Hoag in Newport Bch. It would be great if we could talk-